Eyes on history

IRSC swim teams aim to win national titles, again

HOBIE HILER/SPECIAL TO TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS
Indian River State College’s Bradley Tandy swims the breaststroke during practice at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce on Thursday.

Solyvette Lizardi Pagan

Bryan Clarke

Bradley Tandy
Indian River State College Swimming

Luis Flores
Indian River State College Swimming

Hallie Petersohn
Indian River State College Swimming

Ryan Mallam
Indian River State College Swimming

FORT PIERCE — Indian River State College swimmer Bradley Tandy pauses when asked about his career goals.

He wants to be modest, but that’s hard to do.

After all, Swimswam.com has called Tandy “one of the top junior college swimmers in history.”

His IRSC coach, Ryan Mallam, said the sophomore sprinter has potential to become the fastest swimmer in the world.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I want to be challenging for world records,” said Tandy, who came within a tenth of a second from qualifying for the 50 freestyle at the London Olympics. “I want to come as close to the records as I can, hopefully qualify for the next Olympics and swim a relay for my country (South Africa).

“I just want to keep working my way up.”

But before he focuses on international records, Tandy and his IRSC teammates are preparing to extend some impressive national junior college records. The NJCAA Swimming and Diving Championships begin Wednesday at Erie Community College in Buffalo.

Indian River’s men have won 38 consecutive national championships, the longest streak at any college level. The women have won 30th straight national titles and 34 overall.

“They’re looking pretty good and I think it’s going to be another good year,” Mallam said of his team’s chances this week. “They’re prepared, they’re in shape, they’re attention to detail is off the charts right now. They’re pushing the limit.

“They’ve been working on a lot of stuff with one another, not just with the coaches.”

Tandy, who has signed with Arizona, couldn’t have had a better national meet a year ago. He set national records in the 50-yard freestyle (19.07 seconds) and the 100 free (42.76). His 50 time was the second-fastest in the nation by an college swimmer.

He also was a member of the relay teams that set the 200 free, 400 free and 400 medley national records and was named the NJCAA Men’s Swimmer of the Year in 2012.

Just five swimmers have repeated as Men’s Swimmer of the Year since the honor was first given in 1971. Obviously, Tandy has a shot to do it, too.

“I had shoulder surgery eight months ago (to repair a labrum tear), but I feel that I’m close to being at full strength and I think I can go faster than I did last year.” Tandy said. “I would really like to go 18 (seconds) in the 50 and 42 in the 100 — if I can.”

Auburn’s Marcelo Chierighini, who swam for Brazil in the Olympics last year, is the only swimmer in the nation to break the 18-second mark this year.

“He can do it,” Mallam said of Tandy. “His feel for the water in athletics, there’s a term called propio receptiveness. It’s basically means you can use all of your senses to your surroundings and he’s very good at that. He never really looks like he’s forcing anything; it just looks like he’s using the water to go faster.

“Let’s put it this way, he’s swimming faster this year than he was at this point last year. He really could be the fastest man in the world in a couple of years. His goal is 18 seconds. He can do it.”